PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Who saw this coming?
No one.
Not even Hideki Matsuyama.
“Did you t🌊hink you could win today when you showed up at the course?’’ Matsuyama was ꧙asked after he won the Genesis Invitational Sunday at Riviera.
“To answer that question, no,’’ Matsuyama said. “I was not feeling comfortable with my ball-striking, so I was kind of thinking, ‘Hey, I’m going to have a couple missed shots today,’ but maybe that kind of wo🍨rked outꦏ.’’
It did, in fact, work out quite well for the 31-year-old from Japan, who won🐈 the 2021 Masters but hadn’t won a tournament in two years until Sunday.
Matsuyama began the final round six shots out of the lead and was an aft🍎erthought.
Sunday figured to be all about Patrick Cantlay, who le🀅d after each of the first three rounds and was paired with his best friend Xander Schauffelཧe, who trailed him by two shots.
But the two friends, paired for the 21st time in a PGA Tour stroke-play tournament, never got anything going, never fed off each other’s round the way everyone𝓀 expected they would and left the door ajar for the challengers below them on the leaderboard entering the day.
Matsuyama burst through the opening and never looked back en 🍨route to a three-shot victory at 17-under par thanks to a scorching 9-under-par 62 on Sunday.
“To win in this tournament was one of my goalsꦉ ever since I became pro,’’ Matsuyama, who’s friends with Riviera owner Noboru Watanabe, said. “After Tiger [Woods] became the host, that goal became a lot bigger.’’
Matsuyama boat-raced the field and the venerable golf course with a six-birdie 30 on the back nine, finishing three shots clear of runners-up Will Zalatoris and Luke List and four shots better than Cantlay (73 in the final round♎), Schauffele (70) and Adam Hadwin (65), all of whom finished 13-uဣnder.
Cantlay led the tournament by five shots at the halfway point. He led by two entering Suܫnday. The 54-hole lead was the fifth of his career and the thiꦜrd he failed to close out in victory.
It was Matsuyama’s ninth 🐬career victory and first since he won the Sony Open in 2022. His 62 was the best round of the day by three shots and the lowest final-round score shot by a winner at Riviera since Doug Tewell shot 63 in 1986. Matsuyama was the first player from Japan to win a Mast🔯ers and is now the first to win at Riviera.
What made this win parღticulꦚarly special to him was the neck and back ailments that have been nagging him.
“After my eighth win, I’v𝕴e been struggling with my back injury,’’ he said. “There were a lot of times where I felt I was never going to win again.’’
Matsuyama quietly hung a🃏round all week, even though few paid any attention to him. He began with an opening-round 2-under-par 69 and followed with a pair of 68s in the second and third rounds and began the final round 8-under par trailing Cantlay’s 14-under.
Matsuyama promptly birdied his first three holes and vaulted into contention while Cantlay and Schauffele appeared to be running in place with no ea♚rly birdies.
While Matsuyama quietly moved his way up the board, List appeared to be seizing control of the tournament, going 5-under par on his first seven holes🧸 to take a two-shot lead with nine holes to play. But List cooled off on the back nine with bogeys on Nos. 10, 12 and 15.
That’s when Zalatoris, co🌃ming back from back fusion surgery in April of 2023 and t💎hen not playing last season, made a move, getting to 15-under par with birdies on Nos. 11 and 13. The birdie on 13 gave Zalatoris a one-shot lead briefly.
But, as Matsuyama had the peda♏l to the floor on the back nine, Zalatoris faltered with a killer bogey on🌞 No. 15. That, combined with Matsuyama’s birdie on 17, gave him a two-shot cushion before he would birdie 17 for the three-shot bulge to all but clinch it.
Matsuyama took the tournament by the throat with consecutive birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 17 — thi🦋s after he birdied Nos. 10, 11 and 12. Matsuyama stuffed his 189-yar𓄧d approach shot to within 8 inches for birdie on the par-4 15th hole.
“On 15, second sho𒐪t, perfect shot,’’ Matsuyama said. “So, I had a great momentum rig🐟ht there.’’
Then he went one better on t꧒he par-3 16th and hit his tee shot to within 6 inches for birdie. He followed that with the birdie on the par-5 17th to take a three-shot lead as he headed to the 18th tee.
Matsuyama’s fireworks made you forget that, just minutes earlier, thereꦜ was a five-way tie for the lead at 14-under par with Matsuyama, Zalatoris, List, Cantlay and Sch🔯auffele in the logjam.
Both Zalatoris and List left the course happy with🦄 their performances — even with not winning.
“I played really well and was happy to just give a little pressure,’’ List said. “But Hideki, the 62 today, it’s pretty tough to chase🍬 that.’’
